Starting school, the gentle way

Starting school is a big day. Our Reception team spent the summer making it a smaller one.

Over the holidays, four members of staff each recorded themselves reading a story and shared the videos with families. Nothing fancy. Just a familiar face and a good book, so that when the children walked through the door in September they’d already met some of the grown-ups waiting for them.

The morning of the first day, the team posted photos of the classroom and the things the children would be getting up to, with a nudge for families to talk it through at home. Feeling excited is lovely. Feeling a bit nervous is completely normal, and worth saying out loud.

Families had been sharing snippets of their summer with us too. That turned out to matter. When a child needed a quiet chat on day one, staff already had something to talk to them about.

By home time they were busy telling us about their holidays.